Congressman Bucshon, RINOs, and RINOcare

March 10, 2016 Press Release

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – Following nearly 28 hours of debate in the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Eighth District Congressman Larry Bucshon, M.D. voted to approve legislation as a part of the process to repeal Obamacare and replace it with patient-centered reforms that drive down costs and expand access to quality health care. (From Congressman Bucshon)

Congressman Larry Bucshon of Indiana’s 8^th Congressional district was out in front on this one, a change for the normally reclusive representative, who is generally content to sit out controversies.  But on this, Bucshon came out swinging using his credibility as a physician to bolster the cause of the recently defenestrated GOP health care bill known as the American Health Care Act.  Only this was the wrong hill to fight on.  Because the AHCA did not repeal Obamacare, it saved it and made it worse, and Bucshon should have known this.  But Bucshon got his marching orders and did as he was told.  

            In 2010, Bucshon rode his opposition to Obamacare or the Affordable Care Act to a seat in Congress, the historic “Tea Party” year when Republicans took back the House, and America decided it was time to stop Obama and the Democrats from doing any more damage to the country.  In every election cycle since, Bucshon and Republicans campaigned on this issue, pointing to their many votes repealing Obamacare that ultimately failed before Democrat filibusters or an Obama veto.  The GOP took the Senate in 2014 and the Presidency in 2016 in large measure owing to their opposition to Obamacare. But now the barking dog caught the car.  With a Republican President in power, the same repeal bill Obama had vetoed would now be signed.  But they didn’t send that bill to President Trump.  Instead they sent him the AHCA, which preserves Obamacare.  What happened?    

            The arguments for a freestanding repeal of Obamacare (to be “replaced” later) are the same as they were before only better.  Put simply, Obamacare harms far more people than it helps.  Of the alleged 20 million newly insured under Obamacare, 16 million receive Medicaid, which could be continued without Obamacare.  There are less than five million newly insured who depend on Obamacare subsidies.  But Obamacare has hurt 200 million other Americans and devastated the health care industry.  Premiums and deductibles for 155 million individuals with employer-based insurance have skyrocketed.  Consumers did not keep their doctor or their plan.  Eleven million individuals have paid penalties for not purchasing insurance.  Fifty five million Medicare recipients have reduced benefits.  Hundreds of thousands of laborers were given part-time work to avoid the employer mandate. (from Gerard Gianoli) The nation’s largest insurers have jumped ship after losing hundred of millions of dollars. States and counties across the land have only one insurer.  Nearly three fourths of the Obamacare exchanges are bankrupt. Obamacare, in other words, is in free fall.  And the AHCA would have led to an even more rapid collapse - only this time with Republican fingerprints all over it. 

            So why did Ryan, Bucshon, and the Republicans not put forth the same repeal bill they had sent to Obama in 2015 when it would have counted?  Because they had no intentions of repealing their favorite whipping boy.  They liked having Obamacare around to fund raise and campaign with, but they were never serious about repealing it.

            Republicans have a unique, once in a generation opportunity to pursue a limited government, free market, liberty oriented agenda.  To begin undoing the damage done not just by Obama the last eight years but the entire leftist agenda of the last 100 years.  And there was never a better time to begin this than now over the issue of Obamacare, a deeply unpopular and defective program.  Instead, they pushed an upgraded version of Obamacare with a Republican bow around it, while maintaining many of its worst features.  The AHCA perpetuated a program that nationalized one fifth of the economy, raised premiums, and destroyed the health care industry, when Republicans, who now enjoy monopoly federal power, could have simply ended it.

            The Paul Ryans and Mitch McConnells and Larry Bucshons of the Republican Party voted to repeal Obamacare 62 times since 2010. But when they actually had the chance to revoke the 2700 page monstrosity with a Republican President in the White House, they did not.  Instead they aimed their fire at the 18 members of the “Freedom Caucus,” the conservatives who voted against the AHCA, thereby saving the nation from another calamitous piece of legislation.  They reached out not to conservatives, the base of their party, whom they condemned, but to the Democrats who despise them.  Why?  Because they embrace big government.  Because they are liberals pretending to be conservatives.  And because they are frauds.

Brief Bio: Richard Moss MD is a practicing Ear Nose and Throat Surgeon, author, and columnist who resides in Jasper IN.  He lost his bid for the Republican nomination for Congress in Indiana’s 8^th district in 2016.  Find more of his essays and blog posts at exodusmd.com.  Also find him on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.